Skin Color and Skin Tone Diversity in Human Sexuality Textbook Anatomical Diagrams

Abstract

Little is known about skin tone and skin color representation within sexuality education materials. A content analysis was performed to assess skin tone and skin color diversity among anatomical images (n = 182) within eight contemporary, college-level human sexuality textbooks. Of these images, 1.1% represented dark skin tones while 83.5% represented light skin tones. Skin colors commonly associated with Black and Brown people were underrepresented in comparison to colors generally associated with white or white-presenting people such as conch, which comprised 42.3% (n = 77) of anatomical images. We encourage sex therapists to use racially conscious and inclusive imagery and educational materials when serving clients.

Acknowledgments

We are grateful to those at our university whose creativity, persistence, and commitment to putting good sentiments into action led to the development of a research fund dedicated to supporting racial justice research.

Disclosure statement

The authors have no relevant financial or non-financial interests to disclose.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Indiana University—Bloomington under the Racial Justice Research Fund.